Tito Santana

Merced Solis
Data
Ring name	Dick Blood ; Tito Santana; El Matador
height	188 cm
Fighting weight	111 kg
birth	May 10, 1953 ; Mission , Texas
Announced from	Toluca , Mexico

Merced Solis (born May 10, 1953 in Mission , Texas ) better known as Tito Santana , is an American wrestler with Mexican roots. Contrary to his Mexican origins, Solis rarely competed in Lucha Libre promotions and preferred the American wrestling style. Now he only appears for a few matches with independent organizers.

Beginnings

Prior to his wrestling career, Solis played tight end American football for the University of West Texas State. The quarterback of this team was Tully Blanchard , who also became a professional wrestler. After graduating from college, he had trial training for the Kansas City Chiefs but was turned down. In 1976 he played a season in 13 games for the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League, after which he became a wrestler.

Career

His career began in 1976 in the NWA , where he stayed for only one year, until 1979 when he moved to the AWA and finally joined the WWF .

World Wrestling Federation (1979-1993)

There he won the WWF World Tag Team title together with Ivan Putski on October 22, 1979 , before they had to give it back to the Wild Samoans on April 12, 1980 . In the following years, Solis mostly appeared again as a single wrestler. On February 11, 1984, he was able to remove the WWF Intercontinental Champion title from Don Muraco and then began a feud with Greg Valentine . In September of the same year Valentine defeated him and injured Solis (according to the storyline) in the knee so that he could take a break.

Solis returned at Wrestlemania 1 and played the inaugural match of the very first Wrestlemania, in which he defeated Buddy Rose , who was competing as Executioner . After that, his feud with Greg Valentine resumed and a series of different types of matches for the WWF Intercontinental Champion title ensued . On July 6, 1985, Solis finally won the title back in a steel cage match . After the match, Valentine's Intercontinental belt was destroyed and a new version was made for Solis. He held the title until February 8, 1986 when Randy Savage became the new champion.

Tito Santana during his time as a wrestler for the WWF

In 1987, Solis returned to tag team wrestling when he partnered with Rick Martel and formed Team Strike Force . On October 27th of that year they defeated the Hart Foundation and became the new WWF World Tag Team Champions . At Wrestlemania 4, however, they had to surrender the title back to Demolition . The team was disbanded until Wrestlemania 5 , where they faced the Brain Busters . During the match Martel turned against Solis, left the ring and thus their feud was ushered in.

After the Ultimate Warrior had won the WWF World Champion title from Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 6, the WWF Intercontinental Champion title previously held by him was vacated and reassigned in a tournament. Solis faced Mr.Perfect in the final but lost.

After a break, Solis came back with a new gimmick . He was now called El Matador and personified a bullfighter before leaving WWF in 1993.

Eastern Championship Wrestling (1993)

On August 8, 1993, he participated in the ECW , which at that time still for Eastern Championship Wrestling was, Don Muraco the ECW Champion title from lost this already on September 9, but again to Shane Douglas .

American Wrestling Federation (1994-1996)

After that, Solis joined the American Wrestling Federation for some time and acted as a co-commentator for the Spanish-speaking population at major WWF events .

On January 10, 2000, he made a guest appearance at WCW when he defeated Jeff Jarrett in a match on Monday Nitro . He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Shawn Michaels in 2004 . Today Solis makes occasional appearances in the independent leagues.

After wrestling

Solis now works as a teacher at Eisenhower Middle School in Roxbury Township ; New Jersey . He also runs a hairdressing salon in Succasuna . He is married to Leah and has three sons.